The Woodlands High School had 17 students make the All-State Band and Choir, including the pictured band students: Anthony Dapoz, junior, clarinet; Sami Eudy, senior, flute; Alyx Henderson, sophomore, French ... more

TWHS students make All-State Band

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THE WOODLANDS - Several students from The Woodlands High School will spend next week making beautiful music with help from nationally recongnized conductors.

Nine TWHS band students will be among the 30 Montgomery County high school musicians who will perform in the All-State bands, choirs or orchestras during the annual Texas Music Educators Association Clinic and Convention in San Antonio Feb. 9-12. The band students are among the 17 TWHS musicians who made it to the All-State level.

“Making the All-State Band, Choir or Orchestra in the state of Texas is the highest achievement they could make at this point in their lives,” TWHS Head Band Director Joni Perez said.

“It’s definitely prestigious,” said Torrisi, 18, who made All-State Band for his third time. “It’s nice to know that our hard work has paid off.”

This is the second year at All-State for Henderson, 15.

“This year, I felt that I still had to put as much work into it as the first year because you can’t take it for granted,” she said.

Individual musicians perform selected music for a panel of judges who rank each instrument or voice part, according to a TMEA press release. From that ranking, a select group of musicians advances through the competition.

More than 60,000 students started the All-State process in August, according to the press release. Through a series of auditions, that number dwindled down to roughly 1,600 selected to perform at the All-State level in one of 13 ensembles, including 850 with the All-State concert and jazz bands, 236 with All-State orchestras and 504 with the All-State choirs.

“We try to tell them to perform in front of as many people as possible … because those auditions can be incredibly intense because of how much talent they are up against,” Perez said. “It’s just as much mental as it is musical.”

At the convention, All-State musicians will compete for placement in their ensembles.

“I think that it’s important to remember that you already made it this far, so when you get to the next round you need to remember to enjoy it,” said Leger, 16, who also made All-State for the second time.

All-State musicians will participate in three days of rehearsals directed by nationally recognized conductors, according to the press release. The performance will wrap up the clinic/convention.

“It’s exciting because everyone worked really hard and we’re the ones to make it,” said Eudy, 17, who made All-State for the second time.

More than 25,000 people will attend the TMEA Clinic/Convention, the nation’s largest music educator’s convention, according to a TMEA press release.

All-State students represent the top 2.6 percent of Texas high school musicians who started the initial process, the TMEA release states.

“Hopefully it equates to future success; that is we made it this far, we’ll still work this hard,” Torrisi said.